Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Family, another week, another set of things to talk about. This week is no exception.

1. Is it bigger than "bath salts?"

So the whole world is making fun of Miami being ground zero for a "zombie apocalypse." But when you really take a step back and look at the carnage that took place over memorial day weekend, it really isn't that funny. Take the "zombie." He has a name, Rudy Eugene. His victim has a name too, Ronald Poppo. And for all the "only in Miami" jokes there are pieces of this story that could've happened anywhere. Today we want to have a real conversation on what the hell happened to make this possible. Past the jokes, past the sensationalism. Just some real talk. Listen in as we talk with Kamalah Fletcher from Catalyst Miami.

2. The Anatomy of a private "prison" riot.

Two weeks a go, a riot unfolded in a private immigrant detention center in Natchez, Mississippi. The events left one guard dead and twenty people injured. The facility is run by Corrections Corporation of America(CCA) and is similar to the detention center they are trying to build in South Florida. Join us as we talk with Kathy Bird (Florida Immigrant Coalition/CCA Go Away Campaign), Bill Chandler (Mississippi Immigrant Rights Association), Gail Tyree (Grassroots Leadership),Kimberly Schultz (Teamsters Local 2011) and Azadeh Shahshahani (ACLU of Georgia, plus check out their report here) about what started the riot in the CCA facility and why other towns with similar facilities should or shouldn't be worried. To listen to this segment, click here or press play below.

1. Did Dharun Ravi get a deal?
We began this week’s show with an update on the case of Dharun Ravi who
was sentenced to 30 days in jail in addition to a $10,000 fine, three years probation and
community service this past week. Ravi was on trial for his role in the
unfortunate suicide of his roommate, Tyler Clementi, a gay student who
had recently come out when Ravi used a webcam to record him involved in
an intimate moment with another student. This case has stirred up a lot
of controversy and the sentencing has been criticized by many for being
overly lenient. We spoke with Michael Carr, former Rutgers student and
New Jersey area activist, and Yasmin Nair, a Chicago based activist and
writer, about the case and their reactions to the sentencing. Carr
described his reaction as being one of both surprise and relief as he
did not believe that the judge should have thrown the book at Ravi and
Nair discussed the weaknesses that this case exposed in hate crimes
laws. We were also joined by Lee Carson of the Black Gay Men's Leadership
Council and Dan Goldman of LeGAYlize It who both agreed with Ravi's sentencing but disagreed about whether or not this case could
have constituted a hate crime. Additionally, though everyone in the
studio had differing opinions on the sentencing, everyone seemed to
agree that Ravi is probably an a**hole, but sort of forgot that you can't say that word on the radio. Listen to the segment here or below.

2. Chicago's NATO Problem
Also on the show we take a quick look at the events that went down in
Chicago last week and over the weekend during the NATO summit. We were
joined by Scott Kimball, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, who
spoke about the protests that took place and about his experience
participating in a march that culminated in him and several other
soldiers returning their medals as a rejection of NATO’s policies and
the wars that we are currently engaged in. Kimball also discussed the
need to end the war in Afghanistan. Check that segment here or below.

3. Violating the Violence Against Women's Act
Finally on the show we look
at the battle that has broken out around the reauthorization of the
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Since its initial passage back in
1994, VAWA has been one of those rare pieces of legislation that has
always enjoyed bipartisan support and has been continually reauthorized
and broadened in subsequent years without incident. That is until
recently when Florida congresswoman Sandy Adams sponsored a House
version of the bill which removes some of the protections that Senate
version maintained and a huge partisan battle began brewing. We were
joined on the show by Michelle Ortiz, the director of the LUCHA Project
at Americans for Immigrant Justice, and Monika Johnson Hostler,
Executive Director of the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual
Assault and President of the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence,
to discuss what VAWA is and why they believe that the House version of
the bill guts the spirit of the law. Listen to the segment here or press play below.

Also, if you are in central Florida, don't forget to check out the rally in support of Marissa Alexander. See the flyer and a message from Marissa's children below...

Saturday, May 19, 2012

In has been over a week since Marissa Alexander, a mother of
three, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for aggravated assault after firing
a gun into a wall that hurt no one in what she claimed was an attempt to defend
herself against an abusive husband.
Since the sentencing last Friday, the prosecutor in the case, Angela
Corey and her star witness/Marissa’s allegedly abusive husband, Rico Gray, have been on a virtual speaking tour telling their sides of the story, sometimes together.

While Angela Corey, who is also the prosecutor in the
Trayvon Martin case, reached out to several press outlets (including ours) in
the past few weeks, I believe that her and Rico Gray’s statements to the press, this week in particular, have been marked by inaccuracies, distortions of truth and
blatant lies. Here are a few of them.

1. Marissa “shot a gun at” or "discharged a gun to
kill” her husband and his children the day she was arrested.

This week, Angela Corey’s office shifted from merely having
a different take on the facts than Marissa Alexander to straight out lying about
those facts. In a recent interview she
gave to CBS news, she stated:

"She [Marissa] discharged a gun to kill them, [her
husband and his children] and she has to answer for that."

This is a disappointing step from past statements made by
either Corey or Rico Gray where they claim that Marissa “aimed and shot” at
Rico Gray and his two young children that were in the house at the time. Disappointing because the accusation that she
“aimed and shot” at someone is probably wrong, but the insinuation that she
tried to kill anyone is a bald faced lie.
To prove it is a lie, you would either have to do hours of research…or
just read the crime Marissa was charged with…out loud…once. Please join me:

“Aggravated Assault…without intent to kill.”

At no point does the evidence or the charge even suggest
that she was trying to kill anyone. But
what about the claim that she “aimed and shot” at her husband and his
kids? When looking at the pictures from
the crime scene and listening to the 911 tape, which Angela Corey told me would
both prove that Marissa “shot at” someone, you don’t get the sense that either
piece of evidence proves any of that. For one, as
I have said before, Rico Gray tells three different stories on the 911 tape:

:46-“She was shooting at me and my son”

4:45-“I can’t believe she'd shoot in front of me…[corrects
himself] shoot at [emphasis his] me…I’m so pissed off right now.”

7:12-“She just aimed the gun at us then she shot…well I know
she probably wasn’t aiming at my kids…but she might as well be…”

The most revealing section of the 911 tape is at 4:45, where
Rico Gray seems to change his story and correct himself mid-sentence. He first seems to imply that Marissa fired a
gun in front of him (rather than at him), and then quickly restates and almost emphasizes to the 911 dispatcher
that she fired at him. And this was supposed to be one of the strongest pieces
of evidence to prove Marissa’s guilt.

Even the photos that Angela Corey’s office gave me, which
she said would clear up any doubt that Marissa shot at her husband, show a
single bullet hole at least a foot into the wall with an exit hole in an upward
direction (and not “ricocheting" as Corey has claimed). Looking at the picture,
it seems clear that if Marissa was aiming at anyone, they were either behind
the wall or she is the worst shot in the history of people to ever qualify for a
Florida Concealed Weapons Permits.

Bullet hole pic 1

Bullet hole pic 2

2. Rico Gray never
abused Marissa or anyone else. If he
did, it is not relevant to the case.

The second most disappointing set of statements Angela Corey
has made to the press relate to Rico Gray’s well-documented, yet often denied,
history of violence towards his significant other(s). This history of violence
has frequently been minimized or deemed irrelevant by Angela Corey. Just this week, she took the unusual step of
allowing Rico Gray to speak to the Jacksonville-based media from her own office. In his virtual joint press
conference with Corey, Rico Gray implied that the stuff he said in a past
deposition about having “five babies’ mamas” and putting “hands on every last one of them except
one" was a lie to protect Marissa.
Lie or not, Angela Corey has insisted that “not all of that is
relevant,” to the case.

To be clear, Rico Gray is not on trial. To also be clear, we technically live in a
system that believes you are innocent until proven guilty. But to be even clearer, this man has told a
different tale about his domestic violence (or three tales in the 911 tape)
virtually every time he speaks to someone.

But the story that hasn’t been told enough is that of the other
women that have been previously involved with Rico Gray. In fact, the jury was unable to see several
letters written by former wives,
girlfriends or in-laws of Rico Gray (many that barely knew Marissa Alexander)
that recounted bone-chilling stories of pistol-whipping, being beaten and
stripped of clothing, and having door locks super-glued on them. Perhaps the
most relevant part of their accounts isn’t the alleged history of abuse but
Rico Gray’s alleged attempts to cover up that abuse by manipulating and lying
to law enforcement. At least one of those alleged cover-ups involved Gray
enlisting his younger son, who was also a key witness in Marissa’s trial, in
lying to law enforcement. In a previous piece, we highlighted the story of
Chartrissia Anderson, who claimed that during a specific incident in which she
called the police on Gray, he stabbed himself with a fork and asked his younger
son to tell the police that Chartrissia did it.
But there are other cases too.

An ex-partner and mother of one of Rico Gray’s children
(the same one that testified in court during Marissa’s trial) alleged that
Rico called the police on her after he threw a chair through her car
windshield, telling the police she was at his house threatening him with a
gun. According to her, the police never
found a gun because she never had one. “[Rico] has had me arrested 3 times
because I fought back.” She said. “He is the biggest liar I have ever met…he
make[s] you believe he is innocent.”

Another letter written to the court by a woman who didn’t
experience Rico’s attacks but witnessed his rage against one of his former
partners stated, “I can only imagine
what he did behind closed doors with Marissa.
I can attest to being in fear for my life, and he wasn’t upset with me…”

So what exactly is so irrelevant about a star witness’
history of violence, especially when that history of violence includes
allegations of lying to law enforcement and recruiting other eyewitnesses (his
children) in covering up his abuse? I
have yet to hear an answer that satisfies me. It is also not clear why Rico
Gray’s recantation of his 66-page deposition admitting to abusing all five of
his “babies’ mamas, except one,” is taken at face value. Admitting to abusing five
ex-girlfriends/wives “except one” seems
like a very oddly specific lie to make up to protect someone.

3. Angela Corey was
just doing her job. If you want to blame something, blame Florida’s 10/20/Life
mandatory minimum laws.

In some ways, Florida’s 10/20/life mandatory minimum
sentencing laws, the ones that gave Marissa an automatic 20 year sentence just
for firing a gun without hitting anyone, are absolving the prosecutor in this
case of any sins in the same way that the “stand your ground” debate helped to
absolve the police and original prosecutor in the Trayvon Martin case of their
mishandling of his murder investigation. In an otherwise good piece on CNN’s
website, Roland Martin points to the 10/20/Life
law as being the real shame of the Marissa Alexander case. If only that were
true. Despite Angela Corey’s insistence to me that she tried her best to be
equitable in Marissa’s case, the record says the opposite. While it is clear
that the 10/20/life laws of Florida really do tie the hands of judges in
sentencing, they often end up making the prosecutor the king/queen of the
courtroom. As a former prosecutor and a
defense attorney told me on my show Wednesday, Angela Corey had plenty of
choices if she wanted to properly penalize Marissa for shooting a wall but
still ensure a fairer sentence (as compared to people that …you know...decapitated someone). The original arrest report, seems to confirm that fact.

If you look at the police report, the firearm wasn’t listed
under the charges. The firearms aspect
of the aggravated assault charges seems to have been added on later (or
enhanced) by Corey’s office. As former prosecutor Eric Matheny told me on the show, at that point, Angela Corey didn’t
have to add the enhancement that brings with it the mandatory 20 year
sentence.

"I'll tell you what they could've done because I had this exact situation...I had a client who was an elderly gentleman...in his 80's...he was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm...what [the prosecutors] did was they charged him with aggravated assault, they did not list the firearm enhancement...punishable by five years in prison, no mandatory minimum...if found guilty the judge would've been free to do whatever the judge wants to do...prison...probation..."

Civil rights attorney John De Leon also argues that there
are other, more appropriate charges that Marissa could have been charged with
that would have had severe sentences, but not quite the 20-year mandated prison
term.

"An assault (second degree misdemeanor) could have been charged instead of an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon...which would probably have been the appropriate charge in this case."

4. A 20-year sentence
is necessary to discourage people from firing guns.

The six people or so, besides Angela Corey, that believe
Marissa Alexander’s sentence is appropriate reiterate a point that she made to
the press:

"I feel like when someone fires a loaded gun inside of
a home…we have to have tough laws that say you don't do that"

In talking with domestic violence survivors that are
outraged by this case, Marissa’s conviction seems to be having the opposite
effect of what Ms. Corey suggests. “If she was going to get twenty years
anyway, she should have just killed him [Gray], so other women wouldn’t have to
suffer!” has been a common refrain in personal conversations and comment boards
since Marissa’s sentencing. That is part of a "perverse irony" Greg Newburn from Families Against Mandatory Minimums describes:

“Let's face it, there is a significant possibility that she wouldn't have faced any prosecution at all had she killed him, because there wouldn't have been a second story to contradict hers...her decision not to kill this person is what put her in prison for 20 years...that's a perverse irony of the law [10/20/life].”

There are many reasons I keep talking about this
case. For one, victims have a fundamental
right to stop being victims. I also
believe that the outcome of Marissa’s case, coupled with the outcome of the
Trayvon Martin case, will for generations to come determine the future of race
relations, victim’s rights, defendant’s rights and basic conceptions of
justice. As it stands now, there is a
chance that of two individuals, both claiming self defense in a case prosecuted by
the same person, one may be imprisoned for twenty years for hurting no one
while the other just might go free after killing someone.

1. More on the Marissa Alexander case: What the prosecutor could have done different.

The
recent sentencing of Marissa Alexander to 20 years in prison has everybody talking and in its wake we at Let’s Talk About It! did what we do, put out the facts with a little of our input and let you decide. We specifically had something to say about what Angela Corey has been saying in the media. Check it out.

But what we really wanted to know is what the prosecutor could have done differently. To understand that and the confusing criminal law on the books, we talked to former prosecutor and current defense attorney Eric Matheny and civil rights/criminal defense attorney (and friend of the show) John De Leon Hear what they had to say.

2. Mandatory minimums and the 10/20/Life law

In one of the most enlightening conversations we have ever had on Mandatory minimums (and not just because it was the first one), we
also spoke with Greg Newburn, the Florida director of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, about the Marissa Alexander case and about the
effect that mandatory minimum sentences have on the justice system in
Florida. He explained that in many states legislators pass mandatory
minimum sentence laws without fully knowing what the consequences of the
laws may be and how often times they are applied in situations where
they were not originally intended. Newburn also informed us and our
listeners of the numerous other examples of mandatory minimum sentences
being applied to folks who, like Marissa, did not end up injuring or
killing anyone before moving on to discuss the implications of a legal
structure which encourages citizens to carry guns and to defend
themselves on the one hand and then hits those same citizens with stiff
penalties for doing just that.

The
President of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, Desmond Meade,
also joined us to discuss his take on mandatory minimum sentencing.
Meade said he gets upset whenever he hears the argument that
mandatory minimums are being applied in ways not foreseen by legislators
because in many cases those legislators never bothered to read the
bills in the first place. He doesn’t see the problem as being merely
structural or legalistic but also as the product of the poor
relationship that police departments and the legal system have to
minority communities in particular. This segment is a must.

Finally we close out the show with some local news. Namely, the
eviction of Angela Samuels and the 10 workers fired from the Mardi Gras
Casino for organizing a union.

Marissa Alexander, the woman who claims she was defending herself against an abusive husband when she fired a single "warning" shot into the wall of her home, hurting no one, was sentenced on Friday to a mandatory 20 years in prison. As we reported on Monday, that puts her sentence slightly higher than Floridians that have decapitated people, ran ponzi schemes and committed vehicular manslaughter. A lot of people have talked about Florida's unjust mandatory minimum laws, and we will tonight too. But first we want to know, could the Prosecutor (Angela Corey) have done something different when prosecuting the case? Hear what attorney John De Leon has and former prosecutor/current defense attorney Eric Matheny have to say about it. Check out some of our other coverage on the case here.

2. Mandatory minimums and 10/20/life, is it time for a change?

Almost everyone, except maybe Angela Corey's office, believes that the 20 year sentence in the case is excessive and/or unjust. The mandatory sentencing is part of a 10/20/Life law that takes the power away from judges to decide sentences on their own in felony cases involving the possession and discharging of a gun. Listen in to Greg Newburn from Families Against Mandatory Minimums and Desmond Meade of Florida Rights Restoration Council as we talk about the future of justice in states with mandatory minimum sentencing.

And we will also check in on the local fight for fair wages at the Mardi Gras Casino and other stories.

Monday, May 14, 2012

On Friday, Marissa Alexander, a Floridian mother of three, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing a gun into a wall that hurt no one. She claimed it was a warning shot in self defense against a husband with a history of documented domestic abuse toward her and others. Prosecutor Angela Corey (also the prosecutor in the Trayvon Martin case) claims, however, that it was a shot out of anger that could have (but didn't) hurt two children that were in the house at the time. Last week, a few days before sentencing, I asked Angela Corey on our show if she thought justice would be served by Marissa Alexander serving a twenty year term behind bars for an incident in which no one was hurt:

"When you look at the photos...listen to the 911 tape...talk to the children and look in their eyes, like I did, you understand what happened in this case, and then you know that yes, justice was done..."

This made us want to do some quick research to see if anyone else in Florida or anywhere else is doing 20 years in prison for not hurting anyone. What we found instead are a few folks doing less time for hurting more people (sometimes physically, other times financially).

1. Steven N. Lippman, 5 years. Because who do Ponzi schemes really hurt?

(Amy Beth Bennett, Sun
Sentinel/May11, 2012)

On the very same day that Marissa Alexander learned that she
was going to be sentenced to 20 years in prison, Steven N. Lippman plead guilty
to his involvement in a Ponzi scheme with the disgraced Rothstein Law Firm and
conspiring to break federal election laws in order to become the largest donor
to John McCain’s presidential campaign back in 2008. What sort of time does a
high powered lawyer who cheated investors and lent illegitimate influence to a
presidential election face? In this case, Lippman will be sentenced this
September and is facing a maximum of five years in prison.

2. John Goodman, 16 years. Because letting someone die while you are under the influence is only worse than shooting a wall when you aren't a billionaire and don't adopt your 48 year-old girlfriend to protect your assets.

Lannis Waters / Palm Beach Post

In 2010, Goodman was driving drunk when his Bentley ran a stop sign and slammed into 23 year old Scott Wilson's car, killing him. On the same day that Marissa Alexander was given a 20 year bid for her deadly asssault on drywall and a ceiling, the Billionaire heard that his DUI manlaughter case would net him four years less that Alexander. That sentence came just after he adopted his 48 year-old girlfriend as his daughter in what some see as an attempt to protect his assets from a wrongful death civil suit.

3. Robert Cope, 15 years. Because is DECAPITATING someone really worse that hurting no one?

In 2009, Robert Cope decapitated an elderly person. No, he really did. Although no one believes he is really sane, the judge felt he was competent enough to stand trial. But unlike Marissa Alexander, he only committed manslaughter (vs. Aggravated Assault with no intent to kill). He will spend 15 years in prison.

4. Wilfredo Vazquez. 7 years, what you can get for sexually assaulting an immigrant when you are an ICE agent.

Wilfredo Vazquez was an ICE agent in September 2007 when he was transporting a detained Jamaican women between detention centers. While in transport, he stopped by his home and allegedly sexually assaulted her. In 2008, he plead down to
a lesser charge of "knowingly causing another
person to engage in a sexual act by threatening" and "engaging in a sexual act with another person under his
custody." That euphemism for "rape" helped him "win" a sentence of 87 months in prison.

and finally for some perspective...

5. Donald
Rattanavong, 18 months. What warning shots can get you in Illinois...when someone dies.

(Stacey Wescott/ChicagoTribune)

Illinois is one of those states that sort of does/sort of doesn't have one of those "Stand your ground" statutes. With or without a Florida-style "Stand Your Ground," on July 4, 2011,
Donald Rattanavong (a former buddhist monk)was at his home in Elgin, Illinois when he saw a group of
teenagers approaching. Fearing that they were attempting to burglarize his
home, he came out with his pistol and fired three warning shots.
One of the teenagers was struck in the head and subsequently died. Rattanavong
was sentenced to 18 months in jail this past Friday, the same day Marissa received a sentence nearly 20 times greater. Don't get us wrong, the case is pretty messed up.

As millions of children across the country are buying bouquets and making cards for Mothers Day, the children of Marissa Alexander won’t have that opportunity because their mother is starting a 20 year prison sentence not as a criminal, but as another victim of Florida’s misguided legal system. Who is Marissa? She is a young African-American mother of three who stood her ground against her long-term abuser yet is now being sentenced as if she was the perpetrator of the violence.

Her sentencing took place at the Duval County Courthouse early Friday morning at 9am. Shortly after the opening formalities, a steady procession of character witnesses testified on Marissa's behalf as a good mother - but, alas, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison. As witnesses to this injustice, we

felt that it was important to speak out about this immediately. As we watched the sentence get meted out to Marissa Alexander, we thought about our own experiences as children of mothers. We thought about our own mothers. We thought about the indignities that children and mothers endure, not just in Marissa's situation but in the many situations where families are ripped apart by injustice. Standing outside the courthouse, we collectively understood that this sentence, on the heels of Mother’s day,
is unjust - and this injustice, we believe, should prompt all of us to reflect on the meaning of Mother's Day through the eyes of Marissa Alexander.

Friday, May 11, 2012

This morning, Marissa Alexander was sentenced to 20 years in prison for aggravated assault without an intent to
kill. Although her attorney promises to
appeal, she may still do two decades behind bars for an incident in which no
one was either killed or hurt. This all started after Marissa Alexander was arrested in August 2010 for firing a shot that she claims was a warning shot to repel an abusive husband (Rico Gray) but
prosecutors claim was out of anger and could have harmed two children that were
in the house at the time. I have been following this case since April, talking
to scores of people involved in the case including Marissa’s ex-husband/current
advocate Lincoln Alexander, the lead Prosecutor Angela Corey (who is also the
prosecutor in the Trayvon Martin case), Marissa’s sister Helena Jenkins,
Marissa’s lawyer Kevin Cobbin, and many others.

I haven’t even tried to hide the fact that
very little can convince me that this woman deserves to do twenty years in
prison for hurting no one. But I have
tried, in my radio coverage, and writing (like here and here) on the case, to cite as much of the
evidence available, so that people may make up their own minds. In fact, our show was the first media outlet
to actually cite the statements made by Rico Gray in a damning deposition.

That didn’t stop prosecutor Angel Corey
from telling me on Tuesday that the media (including me) are “riling” people up
and spreading “misinformation.” Well,
let me layout all of the information (most of the interviews are from our last show) that I have so that people will understand
why I keep writing and talking about this case.

Here are the undisputed facts:

*Marissa Alexander is a 31 year old mother
of three who had just given birth to a premature child nine days before her
arrest on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to
kill after discharging a legally owned firearm in the home jointly owned by her
and her estranged husband at the time, Rico Gray. Rico Gray’s children were present in the
apartment at the time.

*Her husband Rico Gray has an alleged history
of physical abuse that he has alternatively admitted and denied.

*Neither the defense attorney nor the
prosecutors dispute that Marissa Alexander was a likely victim of domestic
violence. However, Angela Corey’s
office argued in a brief that the violence only resulted in “minor bruising”
and never “resulted in serious bodily harm to her.”

*Marissa Alexander fired a shot into the
wall of the apartment that neither killed nor hurt anyone. She claimed the shot was fired in
self-defense, but prosecutors claim it was out of anger.

*Rico Gray called the police (the 911 tape) alleging that Marissa fired the gun at him and his children.

*After Marissa’s arrest, Rico Gray gave a
66 page deposition where he admitted
that Marissa did not point the gun at
him or his kids and that he would have “put his hands on her.” It was in this same deposition that we heard
that he put his hand on “all five of his babies’ mamas except one.” He would later retract those statements,
saying that he made them up to protect Marissa Alexander.

*After the initial incident and while out
on bond, Marissa was arrested for an alleged attack on Rico Gray where he
claimed she gave him a black eye and she was taken to the hospital.

Virtually every other fact in the case is
disputed by someone. Here are the
questions in the case, and their answers from the different voices involved.

1. Did
Marissa Alexander fire a warning shot out of fear, or shoot out of anger? Did she aim at Rico and his children?

Angela Corey: “the bullet happened to
ricochet up into the ceiling instead of into one of the two children she aimed
the gun at… the 911 call backs up the version that she went and got the gun and
fired it out of anger, not fear.”

Kevin Cobbin: “the shot that was fired went
through the wall in an upward direction right into the ceiling…Even Mr. Gray’s
own son said that the gun was never pointed at anyone…Ms. Alexander went from
having the gun down by her side when she was attacked, she raised it up in the
air, flinched because she was afraid that she was going to get hit by him [Rico
Gray] and fired one shot and it went straight up in a angular trajectory to the
wall into the ceiling.”

Rico Gray (911 call):

:06-“She just shot at me with her gun…”

:46-“She was shooting at me and my son” 4:45-“I can’t believe she'd shoot in front of me…[corrects
himself] shoot at [emphasis his] me…I’m so pissed off right now.” 4:54-“I’m so pissed off right now.” 7:12-“She just aimed the gun at us then she
shot…well I know she probably wasn’t aiming at my kids…but she might as well
be…”

Rico Gray (In the deposition): “I was walking toward
her because she was telling me to leave the whole time…I was cursing and all
that…and she shot in the air one time…(later in deposition)…if my kids weren’t
there I probably would have put my hands on her.”

Rico Gray to Politic365blog : “I was begging for my
life while my kids were holding on to my side, the gun was pointed at me.”

Rico Gray to Loop21blog : ““When the incident
happened, I thought I was going to die in front of my kids that day…She pointed
the gun at me…and my kids.”

Many people that have commented on this
case have asked me why, if she aimed and fired the gun at Rico Gray and his
children, she was not charged for a crime other than aggravated assault without
intent to kill? Is it possible to aim a
gun at one (or three) people, fire at them, and not intend to kill them? While lawyers and prosecutors may scoff at the
general public’s naiveté of the legal nuances of the criminal justice system, that scoffing probably won’t make the questions go away.

pic 1 of house and bullet hole

pic 2 of house and bullet hole

2. What
about the testimony of the children? Although no transcript of the children’s
testimony is publicly available yet, there are court documents that refer to
the testimony of both of Rico Gray’s children, who were 9 and 13 at the time :

Angela Corey: “They [Rico and his eldest
son] changed their stories and then they changed it back, and the 911 call
backs up the version that she went and got the gun and fired a shot out of
anger, not out of fear.”

One of his sons, who was reportedly
“holding on to” Mr. Gray’s side when Marissa fired the shot, testified that he
did not see Marissa Alexander fire the gun, and only heard it.

The mother of one of Rico Gray’s children
testified in court that her son explained to her, “Ms. Alexander did not fire at
us, but rather fired in the air because Dad was beating her.”

According to Kevin Cobbin, at this point,
both children have changed their stories at least once and have at some point
corroborated Marissa Alexander’s story.

3. Is
Rico Gray a credible eyewitness? The
most controversial figure in this case is Marissa’s husband Rico Gray. It is really hard not to question his
credibility given his changing statements and his alleged history of
violence. But there are differing
opinions:

Angela Corey regarding Rico Gray’s history
of violence: “Not all of that is relevant, his reputation for violence is
relevant but…we have rules of evidence that limit the way that evidence can
come in.”

Chartrissia Anderson (former partner of
Rico Gray) : “I’ve been hit in the
mouth, pushed into walls, he’s run me into neighbor’s homes, he’s beaten
me…outside to where I have been stripped of my clothing…The last time…he hit me
in my mouth. I went into my sons room to
call the police and he started to yank the cord out of the wall. Once he
realized the call had went through, he ran into our kitchen…pulled out a
fork…took the fork, stood in front of his son …and started stabbing himself…and
told his son [the same youngest son that testified in Marissa Alexander’s case]
to tell the police…that I [Chartrissia] had done it.”

Kevin Cobbin: “Mr. Gray has gotten very
good at knowing how to play the system.
And a lot of these men, who abuse women, are very good. They know, ‘if I punch her in the face she is
gonna have a mark. But if I punch her in
the head…back…stomach, it won’t be visible.”

4. Is
Rico Gray a victim too? When speaking to
Loop21 and Politic365, Rico Gray has intimated that he has been a victim of
domestic violence as well, citing an incident after Marissa Alexander’s arrest
where she allegedly gave him a black eye.
That incident was probably the most damaging claim made against
Marissa’s credibility.

Angela Corey: “What do you make of a woman
who claims she is so afraid of him that she had to fire a gun at him, and then
despite a judge's order while she is out on bond for these charges, goes back
over there and hits him, gives him a black eye and goes to jail for it?”

Kevin Cobbin: “My client went over to that
house because she had to get a birth certificate signed, her child was born
premature and was about to be cut off of health insurance…when she gets over
there, he wants her to stay, she says no…and he jumps on her again that day. The police came and took her to the hospital,
they didn’t take him to the hospital.”

Angela Corey: “we offered her a plea deal
[three years] that she turned down because she thought she would have better
luck with the jury.”

Kevin Cobbin: “My client has maintained her
innocence from the first day I met her until today. Her story has remained the same; it has been
backed up. Why should someone that’s
innocent, who has done nothing wrong but defend themselves, why should they
take any day in prison?”

Rico Gray: “Personally, I wish she would
have taken the three years…”

What troubles me the most about the
conversations on the plea deal is that, at times, it seems that Ms. Alexander
is being punished for not taking a plea.
Also, as a domestic violence survivor told me, “when looking at a mother
of three, spending three years in prison does not feel like a deal for a crime
in which you have no prior record, you neither killed nor hurt anyone, and you
would be spending three times more time behind bars for hurting no one than
Rico Gray would face for his domestic battery (of Chartrissia Anderson)
sentence in 2006, for which he received probation.”

While I do not believe people should go
around discharging firearms, especially in homes, I cannot look at the evidence that has been
made public and say that Marissa Alexander deserves to be in jail. As the spouse of a former domestic violence
advocate, I cannot say that “minor bruising” is not enough to make a victim of
domestic violence afraid for their life.
As a human being, I can say that it is important to defend people’s rights
to no longer be victims. There are many
victims in this case, Marissa Alexander, her kids, Rico Gray’s kids, the
families of everyone involved. But if
Ms. Alexander truly watches her kids grow up while she is behind bars, the true
victim in this case will be justice.

I leave you with her words at sentencing:

"I want to address my children, you're your mothers daughter. You're
strong, you are black and you are beautiful and whenever you need me
don't think the distance should keep you away from me, okay? Cause I'll
be here for you sooner than you think.
You, you are your father's son, you have wisdom about yourself. Rihanna
Gray, last time I saw you, you were 7 months and now your 22 months. I
breast fed you and spent hours with you. My love is here without seeing
you or not and I know that angels are watching over you and one thing I
pray is that my heartbeat beats once w/ yours so that we are all in
unison. I want to address my Gray children, in the short time I got to
know you , you meant a lot to me as well. I encourage you all to not let
this situation impact you in a way and I will continue to pray for you
all and I know that you'll be okay. I am simply a woman who loved a man
very much, I got no apologies, I have nothing else to say."

1. No Love in North Carolina
This week North Carolina became the latest state to pass a
constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, civil unions and domestic partnership (gay, straight or otherwise) which has taken over the headlines this week. On the show, we
spoke with anti-amendment activists Wooten Gough of El Cambio and Kai
Barrow of Southerners on the Ground who both had much to
say about the amendment and its aftermath. Barrow discussed the necessity
of framing the passage of the marriage amendment not as a gay rights
issue but rather as part of a more broad discourse around the basic
rights of human beings. She also described this amendment as being
critical because of its role in a greater attempt by the radical right
to lock in discriminatory policies that are detrimental to everyone’s
freedom. Gough spoke about what it has been like to live as a gay man in
rural North Carolina and his fears that this trend of states passing
constitutional amendments to ban same sex marriages may continue to
spread.

We were also joined by Pastor Jimmy Chalmers from North Carolina who
was a part of the effort to block the passage of this new amendment even
though he considers himself to be a political and theological
conservative. Pastor Chalmers discussed the role of faith and public
policy as well as the inordinate power that religious leaders have in
shaping the political opinions of their congregations. Subhash and
Reverend Chalmers also talk about what they see as being the real
threats to families. To here this segment, download it here or press play below.

2. Exclusive Update on Marissa Alexander

As you may know, Let's Talk About It! has been among the most faithful followers of
the Marissa Alexander case. We followed up just two days before her sentencing with a bombshell interview with Angela Corey, the prosecutor in the case (and the current prosecutor in the Trayvon Martin case), Kevin Cobbin, Marissa Alexander's attorney, Chartrissia Anderson (a former partner of Rico Gray, Marissa Alexander's husband/"victim"/accuser), Lincoln Alexander (Marissa's ex-husband/current advocate) and Angie Nixon (Florida New Majority). Angela Corey expressed her displeasure (to
put it mildly) with the media (that means us) and their presentation of
the case which she believes to be lopsided. We discussed what it means
when Alexander’s husband, the star witness in the case, presents three
different accounts of what happened the night of the incident. We even played excerpts from the original 911 tape. Alexander’s attorney, Kevin Cobbin, who
makes it clear that neither he nor Alexander is trying to attack the
state attorney’s office but that they need to find out why the system is
not working for Marissa. If you care about this case, you absolutely must hear this segment by downloading here or pressing play below.

Family! It is that time again. And times are really getting crazy. Tonight:

1. No Love in North Carolina?!?!?!

Last night, North Carolina passed by referendum a Constitutional Amendment that basically bans Gay/LGBT marriages as well as Civil Unions between almost anybody. Although the Amendment is not too much different than the one that passed in Florida, the news has been like a shot heard around the world. Join us tonight as we get reactions North Carolinians on the ground, Wooten Gough (El Cambio), Rev. Jimmy Chalmers and folks from Southerners on New Ground.

2. EXCLUSIVE: Marissa Alexander update

If you have been following us, you will know that we have been among the most faithful followers of the case of Marissa Alexander. On Friday, she is expected to be sentenced to twenty years in prison for what she claims was self defense (where no one was hurt or killed) against an abusive spouse. Over the past two days we have compiled a whole heap of evidence and interviews from Angela Corey, the prosecutor in the case (and in the Trayvon Martin case), Kevin Cobbin (Marissa's attorney), Angie Nixon (Florida New Majority) and family and friends of Marissa Alexander. If you haven't heard about Marissa Alexander yet, it is time you heard now. And our show tonight will be the place to hear some of the most complete coverage on what many are calling one of the worst injustices in Florida's recent memory. To check our other coverage on Marissa's case, please click here and here.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

An article in this week’s Miami Herald brought me back to November 2008, when I was an immigrant rights organizer in South Florida. In turns out that two men from Guatemala, Adolfo García and Julio Díaz, are set to be deported by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) on May 18. How they got picked up and why they shouldn’t be deported is the subject of my flashback.

It all started with a November 21, 2008 press release authored by the former US Attorney for South Florida Alex Acosta (now the Dean of the FIU law school) and the former ICE Special Agent-in Charge of all investigations for the Miami field office, Anthony Mangione, announcing that they had broken up a South Florida sex trafficking ring involving Central American immigrants in Palm Beach, Broward county and Homestead, a small ruralesque city in south Miami Dade county. The sex trafficking raids, as described in the release, netted a total of four arrests. At the time, even ICE’s most vocal critics looked each other in the face, shrugged their shoulders and said, “well sex trafficking is really bad, so I guess they did a good job.” It only took a matter of hours before another story unfolded of the 90 or so other people ICE arrested in the same raid that the agency didn’t tell the press about and who had nothing to do with sex trafficking. They called them “collateral arrests,” which in this case meant the “overwhelming majority of arrests.” Two of those collateral arrests were of Adolfo Garcia and Julio Diaz.

Several things make the “Homestead Raid of 2008,” as many have called it, ironic. For one, between Adolfo Garcia, Julio Diaz and Anthony Mangione, the Special Agent-in-Charge whose office led the raid, only one person would ever be charged with a sex crime…Anthony Mangione.